School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

In the land of fairy tales, Sophie has been waiting to be kidnapped by the School Master and taken away from her dreary hometown where nothing good ever happens. Her good deeds include befriending the local witch, Agatha. When the night comes, Agatha stands guard to keep Sophie from being kidnapped. But stories write their own plots, and both girls get whisked away to the School for Good and Evil.

Sophie is elated as they are whisked away from the good for nothing Gavaldon. Until the magical transport dumps her in the school for evil and Agatha in the school for good. As the two girls attempt to rewrite their fairy tale and balk against tradition, they learn a lot about themselves. The School Master even provides them with a chance at an Ever After happy ending if they can solve his riddle. 

There is plenty of action as Agatha and Sophie dash about trying to right the wrongs of their school assignments. There is wit and sass and romance. The essence of a fairy tale is completely captured in this good versus evil showdown. The secondary characters are even as charming as the protagonists. Yet I came to the end of the novel not completely satisfied.

I really appreciated taking traditional fairy tale standards and bringing a modern refresh to them. There is a lot of soul searching by both characters as their self image is challenged by everyone around them, students and teachers alike. Not to mention the complete moral compass realignment they get from learning what is deep inside themselves. But the actual ending was not for me. I felt like all the things Agatha learned backslid completely. The fairy tale authenticity was marred.